


Details To Follow

by strange_symphony



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Drabbles, F/M, Slow Burn, first fic I've posted in years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 04:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8474869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strange_symphony/pseuds/strange_symphony
Summary: Four and a half times Roy and Riza pretended they weren't in love.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I found this while clearing out a folder on my desktop, and I decided I semi-liked it, even though it really has no point. Blah. It's midnight and I have no idea what I'm doing. Hope you enjoy :)

**_Cognizance/Comprehension_**

Riza always knew when he hadn't spent the night alone, and he always knew she knew. It was assumed by everyone else that Roy Mustang never spent a night alone, not when he could help it, but she knew better. And he knew she knew.

It was the subtle shifts in his eyes when he walked into the room a little too late in the morning, the way he lifted his chin a bit higher than usual _(it's none of your business)_ , the way he didn't demand her to do something that he could do himself until at least after lunch. Or maybe that was all just her.

But it wasn't as if she cared; she didn't. It was his personal life, and he could do what he wanted. She only noticed it, and then went about the rest of her day with an odd little sensation in her chest that felt a bit like heartburn.

.  
.  
.

She always knew when he hadn't spent the night alone, and Roy always knew she knew.

That must be why, on those mornings, the stack of papers she left waiting for him on his desk was always twice as high.

* * *

**_Favors_**

Roy had called Fuery, Falman, Breda, Havoc, and Hawkeye into his office to announce their move to Central, following his victorious chess match against Lieutenant General Grumman.

They stood before him, at attention, waiting for his command. He relished the moment-- not because he liked giving orders (though Heaven knew it was what a little part of him lived for)-- but because with this order, they were _his_ team now.

 _His_ and not anybody else's. He glanced at each of them in turn, his gaze shifting away from Riza quicker than any of the others.

In the end, he'd requested his whole team be moved, but he would never tell which name he'd mentioned first.

* * *

**_Playacting_**

Riza lifted her hand, pressing the earpiece closer to her ear so that she could hear the voice coming over the intercom better. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roy shift to sit criss-cross on the floor and do the same, hunching over as if that helped him decipher the words better.

An image flashed in her mind-- two children hunkering on the floor of a living room, fake radios in hand, playing at war-- and she almost laughed at the ludicrous parallel.

Almost. She knew too much of war to laugh at it, especially when children were involved.

* * *

**_Bodyguard_**

He stared at her back as she left his office, then stared at the door once it closed.

He'd asked her to be his assistant, to watch his back and to keep him track, and he was slowly realizing that he might actually need it, with what he was planning.

Hughes was right, as always.

But he hadn't been thinking that when he asked her. The only thing that had been going through his mind was how cautious her eyes were now, how her sharp gaze matched up with her surname. How she had done things that no one should ever even dream of, and how she was determined to keep on doing them so that other people wouldn't have to.

He had remembered her father and remembered her tears, all in a flash, and impulsively decided that if he kept her close, maybe he could shield her from the worst of the world.

But he realized, as he listened to her steps receding down the hallway, that he could not protect her here any more than he had in Ishval. The only thing they could do was keep living, with the worst of the world on their shoulders, and walk into hell together.


End file.
